All Chapters of Ties of Desire: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The smoke had barely cleared from the underground server vault when the heavy iron security doors upstairs began to groan under the weight of a hydraulic battering ram. Federal agents and local riot police had finally breached the outer perimeter of the Danuarta bunker.Galen pulled himself up from the concrete floor, wincing as a sharp spike of pain shot through his bruised shoulder. He tucked the master hard drive securely into his inner jacket pocket before holding out a hand to help Nurin to her feet. Her knuckles were smudged with black server dust, her hair clinging damply to the back of her neck, but her eyes held a fierce, electric clarity."We need to move. Now," Galen said, his voice dropping into a low, commanding register as the sound of boots echoed down the concrete corridor outside."There's no back way out of this room," Nurin said, scanning the perimeter with a critical eye. "The service tunnel we came through is on a timed pneumatic lock. Once the main bunker seals,

The rain had washed the city clean, but the stench of old sins lingered inside the South Jakarta district precinct. Galen walked down the concrete-and-steel corridor, his tailored shoes clicking against the floor like a metronome counting down the seconds to a reckoning. Bagas trailed a half-step behind, carrying a heavy leather folio stuffed with the newly minted Prakoso-Qistina merger papers."You sure you want to do this, boss?" Bagas muttered, eyeing the heavy iron-reinforced door at the end of the hall. "Haris's lawyers are already filing for a gag order. The feds are keeping him locked tight for a reason.""I don't need a statement from a paper tiger," Galen replied, his voice flat, devoid of emotion. "I just want to look him in the eye and make sure he understands who owns the ground he’s standing on."A federal guard unlatched the heavy steel door with a deafening metallic clank and pushed it open.Haris Danuarta sat alone at a stainless-steel interrogation table. The bespoke

The rain had stopped, but the humidity inside the penthouse felt like a physical weight, pressing down on the glass and turning the Jakarta skyline into a smeared watercolor. Galen remained on his knees on the hardwood floor, his large hands still wrapped tightly around Nurin’s trembling fingers. The audio file on the tablet had looped back to its beginning, a silent, static-filled ghost glaring up from the marble counter where it sat.Nurin stared down at him, her chest heaving as she waited for the axe to fall. She had spent a decade anticipating this exact second—the moment the foundation cracked wide open and the monstrous truth spilled out into the light.

The glass doors of the executive auditorium didn’t just open; they practically imploded under the weight of fifteen federal financial inspectors dragging rolling suitcases stuffed with forensic accounting data.Galen Prakoso didn't blink. He stood at the head of the massive mahogany board table, his tailored charcoal suit immaculate, his hands resting casually on the polished surface. Beside him, Nurin adjusted her cuffs, a razor-thin smile playing on her lips. She looked less like a corporate executive facing a federal audit and more like a high-stakes poker player who had just been dealt a royal flush.

The black armored SUV cut through the deserted streets of Menteng like a razor, its headlights slicing through the humid midnight fog. In the passenger seat, Galen Prakoso checked the magazine of his Sig Sauer for the third time, the metallic click ringing sharply inside the quiet cabin. Beside him, Bagas kept his eyes glued to the portable tactical tablet resting on the center console."GPS is locking onto the coordinates from the flash drive," Bagas said, his fingers flying across the interface. "Sector 4. It’s an abandoned railway depot behind the old colonial-era warehouse district. No public cameras, no active municipal patrols. Whoever dropped that thumb drive wanted a private